WBEZ reporter Monica Eng will lead a conversation about the water, what happened in Flint and what Chicago is doing to address concerns about our own water safety at Rotary International's headquarters on Thursday, June 16.
Joining her to discuss--aside from you, should you come--are community leaders representing Michigan, Illinois and the Great Lakes region including:
Dr. Lawrence Reynolds: Flint pediatrician and member of the Governor’s Water Advisory Task Force
Jamie Gaskin: CEO, United Way of Genesee County, MI
Joel Brammeier: President/CEO, Alliance for the Great Lakes
Dave Stoneback, Director of the Evanston Public Works Agency
Amy Krug: President, Rotary Club of Flint
When: 6 - 8 p.m., Thursday, June 16, 2015
Where: 1560 Sherman Ave, Evanston, IL 60201
Cost: FREE to you, but do get a ticket.
✿*•.¸¸.•*✿*•.¸¸.•*✿*•.¸¸.•*✿*•.¸¸.•*✿*•.¸¸.•*✿*•.¸¸.•*✿
A few news outlets' and social media's reports on the Flint’s water crisis…
Here's how Flint's water crisis happened - CNN video
10 things...by Michael Moore
How Flint’s water crisis unfolded - Detroit Free Press
#JusticeforFlint videos
Flint water crisis - Wikipedia
It's ironic a city in the Great Lakes State would supply its residents with unsafe drinking water, huh? - Unworthy
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow-up: June 22, 2016
Really interesting conversation and not as dry or as anger-inspiring as one might expect. It was gratifying to hear how many entities worldwide have already helped Flint and how many communities are taking action in light of Flint's disaster to ensure safe water quality for their residents.
The panel came from diverse backgrounds and agencies charged with addressing fixing Flint and delivering healthy water in the future. Numerous elements contributed to Flint's big fail. Two thing were made clear: A) The solutions will be more expensive and complex than steps to prevent this disaster would have been. B) Those people with the least capacity and resources are most effected by this disaster.
The audience asked some good questions. Letting your tap run for about 8 or more minutes in the morning before ingesting any of it is one simple prevention suggested. It allows you to get to the water that has not been sitting in your pipes overnight, possibly letting lead leach into it. (I'm paraphrasing Dave Stoneback, so I'm possibly not expressing that as precisely has he would.)
The Evanston Water Treatment Plant supplies water to the residents of Evanston, Skokie, Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Palatine and Wheeling.
To learn more about lead and how our water is delivered, see http://www.cityofevanston.org/utilities/water-division/lead-in-drinking-water/.
Nice to see so many of my Rotary friends there, plus some other friends, neighbors and colleagues.
 |
| Dave Stoneback takes a turn at the mic. He was join by Joel Brammeier, Monica Eng, Jamie Gaskin, Dr. Lawrence Reynolds and Amy Krug at Rotary International headquarters auditorium in Evanston on Thursday, June 16, 2016. [Photo by Karen Kring] |
